


Puffins and Kiwis

by teakroses



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: College AU, Human AU, Human Names, Other, WIP, genderqueer!New Zealand
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-10
Updated: 2014-09-18
Packaged: 2017-12-11 09:57:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/797001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teakroses/pseuds/teakroses
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>WIP College AU of New Zealand/Iceland.<br/>After quiet living on the coast of Iceland, Emil is understandingly overwhelmed by his new and crowded college life in a prestigious New York City university dedicated to promising students of science. His bouncy new roommate might be just what he needs.</p>
<p>I promise this will get a better summary and title when I write more.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> Pardon the wonky pronouns. They'll be explained later on.  
> Warning: I am not a Kiwi. Please feel free to correct me if I screw anything up!

“Hello!” Emil’s new roommate greeted him brightly as he walk into the dorm room carrying a large cardboard box. He placed the box on the floor of the empty side of the room and ploped down on the bed still without sheets. “Crikey dick, this place is hard to navigate when you’re completely knackered. Must be the jet lag.” He fell back on the bed with a muffled umph, raising his hand to wave back at Emil. “I’m Avery Greene, by the way. Nice to meet you, bro.” 

Sitting up, Emil marked his spot in his novel and tossed it on the bed stand. “I’m Emil... Emil Leifsson.” he replied. “They didn’t tell me you’d be Australian.” 

“That’s because I’m not from Australia.” Avery the roommate snorted. He didn’t think he sounded Aussie, but apparently people in this hemisphere think he does. “You’re close enough, though. I’m a Kiwi.” He stretched out on the bed, making himself comfortable. “What are you... you don’t sound American. Some flavour of Scandinavian, I’m guessing. Norwegian?” 

So he’s from New Zealand? Emil shook his head. “Pfft, no. My father is Norwegian, but he’s an asshole. I’m from Iceland... That’s the small island with volcanoes and puffins and Sigur Ros, not the big one covered in ice and polar bears.” He added the last part because of how many times he has had to explain the difference between Iceland and Greenland in the past week. 

“Ah, duly noted.” Avery flipped over to his side get a good look at his new roomie. “Another island dweller, eh. Maybe that’s why they roomed us together.” He joked, glancing over him curiously. Emil was a ridiculously pale, skinny bloke with light features and purple-blue eyes. His hair was so light, he was barely blonde. He wore a baggy cardigan and an unfamiliar band teeshirt along with some oddly bright coloured jeans, sending Avery’s mind instantly to the word ‘hipster’. Were they attending any other college/university, Avery would have guessed he was going into the arts or maybe he’d be a music major. He seemed like they type. “What’s your major?”

“Geology.” Emil responded a bit defensively, not sure what kind of reaction to expect from his dark haired roommate laying on the bed across from him. The usual ones are somewhere along the lines of ‘You must be really into rocks,’ or ‘That sounds boring.’ The comment that really takes the cake was ‘So would you say your sentimental about sediment?’ Don’t worry, he punched the guy who made that awful pun. Mathias had an ugly, Emil’s fist shaped bruise for a whole week.

“Sweet as, I’m going for biology. More specifically ornithology.” He blinked, realizing he should probably explain. “You know, birds and all.”  
“Birds?” Emil cracked a small, shy smile. “My mom is a researcher who specializes in puffins. When she wasn’t taking me to work with her, she brought it home with her. I was kind of an assistant.”

“Get off the grass! I’ve always wanted to see puffins! I asked dad to take me to see the ones in Wales or Scotland, but he never got around to it.” Avery swung himself up into a sitting position, his green eyes bright despite the tired dark rings around them from traveling and jet lag. “I bet you got some real hands on stuff, right?”

Emil nodded. “Mamma taught me how to give them food and medicine. I also got to take care of the abandoned pufflings.”

“Pufflings?”

“Baby puffins.”

“Right, I knew that.” Avery huffed, stretching up and flopping over sideways back onto the bed. His teeshirt rose to expose a small bit of tanned skin and the one side of his surprisingly broad hips. ‘Does he ever stop moving?’ Emil wondered, his eyes trailing carefully over him... well, now that he was getting a better look at his roommate’s figure, Avery could very well be a she. He’s not sure if the dorms even are co-ed, but there’s aways a chance they could have messed something up.

“Oi, what are you staring at?” The Kiwi laughed before tugging down her shirt. Avery wondered if he has started questioning her gender yet. They always do at some point, though she does like to keep people guessing.

“Nothing!” Emil flushed pink under that porcelain skin of his and Avery chuckled in response.

“Nothing at all?”

“I’m just wondering...” He glanced away, not quite sure how to word his question without being completely offensive.

“Go ahead, guess.” She responded with a devilish smile, knowing exactly what he’s wondering. It’s always amusing how flustered some people get around this sort of thing.

“You want me to guess?” He asked incredulously.

“That’s right.” She nods.

“I thought you were a guy when you walked in, but I’m not sure.” Emil responded quietly.

“So what do you think I am now?” She asked, urging him on gently.

“A girl?”

“Nope!” Avery replied happily.

“So you are a guy.” Emil narrowed his eyes at him in mild disbelief.

“Nope!” He replied, those green eyes sparkled like he’s telling his favorite joke and the punchline is coming soon. “Though, I guess I am sometimes. I’ve never been a fan of that whole gender binary thing. Mum tells me I’m a two spirit.”

“A what?” Emil blinked back at them.

“Two spirit. It’s someone who’s kind of a combination between male and female. Mum’s full blown Maori, so that’s her word for it. I just go by genderqueer.” Avery explained, pulling out a passport from her pocket and tossing it over for him to see. Emil’s eyes instantly moved to the line that indicates sex. A black X was in place of an M or F. “See? I even got the paperwork filled to get an X... So before you ask, no I will not tell you my biological sex and yes, go ahead and use whatever pronouns you like. They’re all fine, as long as you don’t call me ‘it’.”

“Sound fair.” Emil nodded in understanding. It really didn’t matter to him what Avery identified as. It doesn’t seem like it was his business. He wondered how many times he has had to give that speech as his attention was brought to Avery’s picture. For a passport picture, it wasn’t bad. The Kiwi had a nice smile, he noted before he tossed the passport back to him. “Hey, Avery. I have one more question.”

“Yeah, bro?” He asked, raising a brow.

Emil smiled a little. “How do you feel about death metal?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Maori- Native New Zealanders  
> **Genderqueer is a term that may be used to describe those with non-normative gender, either as an umbrella term or a stand-alone identity. Though in this case, Avery is genderfluid because he moves between two or more genders.
> 
> Thank you for reading! Hopefully I can post more soon.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Drug and alcohol mentions in this chapter. Sorry bro.

A few weeks later, after everything was unpacked and the Kiwi was settled in to the dorm, Emil came back from class to find his roommate sprawled out on the bed. He was holding his phone above his face as he texted.  
“Hey, bru, welcome back.” Avery glanced over to greet him with a smile, then returned to typing out the text. This wasn’t an uncommon thing for them to be doing, Avery seemed like they had a lot of people to stay in contact with, most notably a pair of vine famous Australians named Jett and Charlie who, from the sounds of it, usually have about four brain cells and a six pack of beer between them.

  
Emil replied with a “hey” and let his bag drop to the floor beside his desk. Classes and labs and the shit ton of homework he had that night were done and so was he.

  
The phone in their hand dinged again and the Kiwi’s round green eyes lit up. “Oh sweet- Emil, what are you doing tonight?”  
“This.” He replied as he flopped onto the creaking bed with a sigh. “This is what I’m doing tonight.”

  
“As fun as that looks, I have a better idea.” Avery sat up with a mischievous smile. It was the kind of smile that meant that the Kiwi had something big in mind. The last time Emil saw that smile, it turned out to be a weekend long Lord of the Rings marathon. Absolutely no homework was done in those two days but Avery found out that Emil makes for a pretty nice pillow. “My mate Matt is trying to get as many people as he can to go to his girlfriend’s band’s show. Seeing as his girlfriend is my cuz, his best mate owns the club and Matt’s on good terms with the bouncer because they’re in the same pre-veterinary classes, he said he could sneak us in for free. What do you say?”

  
“Shit. How do you even find these connections?” Emil said, astounded. His extroverted roommate always seemed to have connection to someone for something. Last week, she found someone to supply her with a mini fridge freezer full of vanilla and toffee ice cream. After some googling, Emil found that the brand wasn’t even sold in the States. Avery still refuses to give away his source. Emil is still in awe.

  
“I dunno. It just happens.” Avery shrugged. “But really, do you wanna go? I promise it’ll be fun.”

  
“That doesn’t really seem like my kind of thing-“

  
“Matt promised piss.”

  
“What?”

  
“Booze.”

  
Emil sighed. He wasn’t much for social interaction but alcohol was always tempting. Plus, he figured it wouldn’t be too bad if he got to spend the night out with Avery. “We’re both underage. They’re not going to serve us.”  
“My mate’s a pot dealing Canadian. He said doesn’t mind helping us do a little underaged drinking.” Avery laughed. “Come on, it’ll be more fun than spending a Friday night on Tumblr.”

  
“Okay, fine.” He agreed with a level of hesitation and a touch of exasperation in his voice. He wasn’t planning on going out tonight but he supposed a night out with Avery could be fun. “When are we leaving?”

  
“Twenty minutes.” They say, sliding off the bed and heading toward their wardrobe to sort through their enormous selection of clothes.

  
“Seriously?” Emil groaned, sitting up. “Do I have to change?”

  
“Nah.” Avery replied after glancing over his shoulder. “You’re rocking that dirty hipster look quite nicely today. Skirt or trousers?”  
“I do not look like a dirty hipster.” Emil said in spite of his wrinkled v-neck and a pair of jeans he hasn’t washed since before he moved in. “Uh, trousers?”

  
A short plaid piece of fabric is gets pulled out of the wardrobe. “Skirt it is.”

~~~~~~~~~

Exactly twenty minutes later, the two freshmen tumble out the door, beyond the dorm and onto the wild, sunset tinted streets of New York City. Even after a few weeks of living in this jungle of lights and noise, Emil was still astounded by the sheer size and density of this city. Sure, he’s seen Reykjavik plenty of times but, Christ, considering one of the dominating features on the Reykjavik skyline is a church, the Icelandic capital was practically a village compared to the congested cityscape around him.  
The constant light flooding the streets all night reminded him of an artificial version of the never ending daylight on summer days back home. It wasn’t exactly the same but thinking about it often was enough to send a tiny pang of home sickness to his stomach.

  
“You know what’s weird about this place?” Avery asked as the pair of them followed the directions glowing from her smart phone. The way she looked at their surroundings with wide, curious eyes told Emil that they were just as mystified as he was.  
“There are a lot of weird things about this place.” Emil replied with a quiet snort as they walked past a woman with blue hair playing what seems to be the dub step violin for tips. She wasn’t bad, Emil noted. With her eyes closed and her body swaying with the rhythm, she played almost symbiotically with the sounds of the people on the streets and the bustle of the cars. Other people must have saw her talent as well, seeing as her felt top hat used for collections was full to the brim with loose change and green bills. “But what specifically is weird?”

  
“The smells.” He said thoughtfully. “Within ten steps, the smells change. You could be smelling cooking food that makes your mouth water in one moment then ten seconds later you're getting a great big sniff of piss on garbage.”

  
“Oh my god, you’re right.” Emil said with a short sputter of a laugh. “I think the key is to hold your breath around dumpsters.”  
Now it was Avery’s turn to laugh. “If that’s true, I don’t know when New Yorkers would breathe.”

  
“Maybe native New Yorkers have, like, hidden gills.” Emil says, making a gesture imitating fluttering gills on the sides of his neck.

  
“Are you saying people from New York are secretly fish people?”

  
“I might be.”

  
“You’re so weird.” Avery shook her head.

  
“I- Sorry.” Emil said quietly, glancing down at the dirty sidewalk.

  
“Hey, you don’t have apologize. You’re good weird, so no worries.” An apologetic nudge and Avery’s free hand taking a hold of his only furthered Emil’s embarrassment.

  
“Heh… thanks.” Emil said, hoping his blush wasn’t noticeable. whether or it was, Avery didn’t have a chance to comment.

  
“Look! It’s Matt!” She said, pointing towards a tall, flannel wearing man with shaggy hair standing down the street. “Come on, Emil!”

It’s a miracle Emil didn’t trip over his own lanky legs as he was dragged down the block.


End file.
